For 25 years, Shikar-Safari International has annually recognized game wardens from North America as “Wildlife Conservation Officers of the Year.”

Collins was chosen for his “exemplary work in the field of Conservation Law Enforcement,” said Lt. Col. Peter Flores, deputy director of Law Enforcement at Texas Parks and Wildlife Department. “He is an outstanding investigator.”

“I’m very excited about it. It’s quite an honor,” said Collins, who graduated from the Texas Game Warden Training Academy in 1988.

Last year, Collins secured leases, obtained funding through the Wildlife Division and executed the first trophy mule deer hunt in the Public Hunting Lands program held on private land in the Texas Panhandle. This hunt provided a quality hunting experience for eight people who were selected as winners through the TPWD Public Hunting Program.

During the last year, Collins learned of the illegal killing of trumpeter swans in Floyd County. He interviewed 51 people in 10 cities during a 9-day period that resulted in the conviction of four people for killing the protected birds. About $17,000 dollars in fines and restitution and statewide media attention resulted from this enforcement effort.

He has also won five medals in five events at the 2001 Texas and National Police Olympics. And in 2003, he shared ‘Top Warden Award’ honors at the Five States Game Warden Association skills competition.

Shikar-Safari works to enhance and preserve wildlife, and has placed particular emphasis on endangered and threatened species through the promotion of enforcement of conservation laws and regulations.